Baby Bear

More Fall.

Sigh.

Up at Chautauqua one evening, just to get out...

Austin is army crawling like a champ, but rolling is so much more efficient when going down a hill.

He really wanted to eat the leaves.

Golden Gate Canyon State Park

A few weeks ago we packed up the kids and headed up to Golden Gate Canyon State Park to see the Fall leaves. It was not great timing for us for the trip, but it was supposed to be THE weekend to see the leaves in the mountains, so away we went! And as promised, it was BEAUTIFUL up there. Oh how I love Fall. But I always talk about that, so on to the pictures!

We had a lovely picnic and Zach and I wandered and took some pictures. Unfortunately, I neglected to charge my camera battery. As the evening went on, the light and the leaves got more beautiful. And then the battery died. I was heartbroken. I decided to try taking the battery out, giving it a shake shake, and putting it back in. Once it was in it had enough life for a couple shots, if I was quick. At least that worked for a little while... Lesson learned: always keep the camera charged and ready to go!

Cal and Austin at Panorama Point.

Sweet boy.
"Sploring" (exploring)

Yellow!

Longs Peak.

My favorite. The triple decker. Both boys were just laughing. Wonderful.

So glad we went!

Itty Bitty Soccer

We decided to enroll Zach in soccer this Fall. Cal's cousin Laura had put her boy Tom in a class in Louisville, and we thought it could be fun for Zach to try it too. I thought he would love it- balls, running, and lots of kids his age. He was actually really hesitant and spent a lot of time running back to me on the sideline, telling me he was hot and tired, but I think he was just unsure of the whole thing. Another friend of his, Kira, was also in the same class.

Zach and Kira with one of their coaches.

Their first "game."

They learned to trap and dribble the ball.

Part really fun, part overwhelming. Maybe next year?

The Playroom

As part of Zach's birthday, we worked on making the basement into a playroom. We wanted to have a fun, safe place for him to play, and have a place for (most) toys to be out of the way. I felt like he is finally old enough that I can feel okay about him being downstairs by himself.

I was really excited to have a place to put up these ABC wall cards that I have had around forever. They even fit perfectly.

We got some shelves and bins to organize smaller toys. (Which also gives us a little more control of how many toys are out at once- we keep the things with a million small pieces up usually, so they don't just get dumped out). It's actually stayed remarkably organized! I had expected it to only last a couple days, but it's worked well.

We cut the legs off a table that used to be my desk to make a craft table for him. We put a couple of cute inexpensive rugs down, too, so we don't have to worry about ruining the carpet. The craft table is really a hit. He always asks if we can go do art projects. Initially he called them "art supplies." ("Mom, can we PLEASE go do art supplies???") And I've finally given in to messier projects, involving paint, scissors, glue, and markers. He LOVES it!

Success!

September

Some pictures of Austin at 5 months...
(from a month ago)

What a sweet, sweet smiley baby!

Zach loves building forts. This time he wanted Austin involved, too. They were both kicking away and "jabbering."